If your hair is at a standstill and, despite your best efforts, isn’t long enough or thick enough for you, take matters into your own hands and consider hair extensions. Although pricey, they can run anywhere from $100 up to $2,800, this instant hair helper makes a major difference in the way your hair looks, making it worth the time and price necessary to invest.
What To Expect
Hair extensions can be applied differently based on what you want. For results that last three to five months, a strand-by-strand fuse or bonded application is used to adhere each extension strand to your hair with keratin. Tape-in extensions involve taping the extension in a brick-layered pattern with keratin. They don’t last more than six to eight weeks, but they can be put in quickly and are the least stressful on hair.
The Benefits
Extensions offer immediate length, volume, fullness and, if you want, noncommittal color. Brett Butcher, program director of Great Lengths, says, “Your natural hair is protected because the extensions take the brunt of the damage caused by irons and blow-dryers.”
Customization Is The Key
To get the most natural-looking results, your extensions need to be custom-made so that they match the density, texture and color of your natural hair.
The Cost Factor
According to Ron Cardillo, Sr., president of SHE by SO.CAP.USA., in addition to the extensions themselves, an investment must be made toward products that will help maintain the extensions, including special brushes, shampoo and conditioner. The type of hair plays into the price, too. “Russian hair is the best quality, and most expensive, you can get,” says hair extension expert Kacey Welch.
The Bottom Line
“When you look good, you feel good,” says Welch. “Extensions create that feeling for women—and that is something you can’t put a price tag on.”
